Disclaimer: Star Trek Deep Space Nine is the property of Paramount. And I would like to thank them heartily in advance for not suing.
Spoiler Alert: the books Unity and Worlds of Star Trek Deep Space Nine: the Dominion and Bajor.
Chapter 6
Kira rested on thick grass in a meadow encircled by Bajoran trees. The sunlight warmed the surrounding vegetation, filling the air with the scents of damp grass and wildflowers. A gentle breeze blew, carrying the most beautiful music she'd ever heard.
"The Prophets know this hasn't been easy for you," Bareil said softly. "They're giving you this to remind you that there's more to the universe than fear and hate and violence."
"It's good to be reminded of that, sometimes," Kira replied. She pushed herself into a sitting position. "But I need to tell the Emissary what I learned. I need to warn Starfleet."
"There's time," Bareil said. "You can't save a quadrant unless you take care of yourself first."
Kira sighed. "But there's always something more. Some other threat that needs to be stopped, other battles that need to be fought. There's not nearly enough of this." She waved her hand to indicate the meadow around her."
Bareil nodded thoughtfully. "There is both good and bad in the Universe, and much that is neither. Everything has both. But the Prophets teach us to have patience with it, and even more love." He stood above her and smiled tenderly. "I love you, Nerys, and I'm grateful that I had you with me when I left."
Kira knew he was saying goodbye. She watched with both sadness and peace as he faded away in ripples of warm shadows that matched the pattern of the wind through the trees and grass.
She breathed the wind, took a moment to savor the sunlight and the warm scents. Then she plucked a piece of grass, crushed it up, and painted on her bare arm the symbols she had to remember. Those symbols would save them.
"Nerys…"
She looked up and saw Odo approaching her, but it wasn't the real Odo. It lacked the substance that Bareil had possessed. This Odo, she sensed, was part of her vision, as perfect and evanescent as the meadow around her.
"I have a gift for you." He dropped a tiny gold and purple flower into the palm of her hand.
"I don't like flowers," she said, "but I love this one because it's from you."
"It's from both of us; that's the point," Odo said.
As Kira watched, the flower decayed until nothing was left but a tiny black seed. "How sad. The flower wilted."
"It was supposed to do that." Odo cupped her hand between his, being careful to keep the seed from blowing away. "This was the reason for the flower's existence. This was hidden inside it the whole time." He leaned forward, as if to kiss her. When his lips were centimeters away from hers, he spoke. "Never forget that a seed this small could destroy a world, or build an empire. Some dangers can only be stopped before they can be seen. Some wars can only be won if the first shot is never fired."
"I understand," Kira replied.
Odo backed away. "You will know what you have to do when the time comes, but you may not know that you know." He stood up and walked away. The music Kira had been hearing grew louder.
Her eyes opened, and she found herself in the infirmary. She sat up slowly and looked around. Dr. Bashir was slumped in a nearby chair, asleep. An alien of a species she had never seen before was playing a strange musical instrument.
"Who are you?" she asked the alien.
He stopped playing, looked at her, and somehow conveyed the impression of a smile with his cheekbones. "I'm Chiarta. I was sent by the Founder Odo to heal you."
Bashir woke up, and had to grab the edge of his chair to keep from falling over. "Kira! I can't believe it. How are you…"
Kira interrupted him. "I need to speak with the Emissary."
"Now?"
"Yes, now. Contact him." She slid off the bed and smoothed the hospital gown around her.
"I'm not sure you should be up yet," Bashir commented. He waved a medical tricorder over her.
"It doesn't matter. I need to talk to the Emissary!"
"He's on the station," one of the Bajoran nurses said. "I'll tell him to come here."
"Don't bother." Kira pushed the tricorder aside and started walking toward the door. "Computer, locate Benjamin Sisko."
"Benjamin Sisko is in the captain's office," the impersonal, didactic voice of the computer informed her.
"Kira, wait." Bashir followed her. "You seem to have made a full recovery…in five hours…but I think you need to rest."
"Don't make me hit you, Doctor."
"I could order you, you know," Dr. Bashir argued. "Whatever the Prophets told you, I'm sure it can wait for a couple more hours."
"How long was I out?" Kira asked without slowing her step.
"Twenty-four days. And a lot has happened in that time."
"Did you catch Taran'atar?"
"Yes. He was hiding on the station for weeks before Lieutenant Bez apprehended him."
"Who's Lieutenant Bez?" she asked.
"The temporary chief of security."
Kira finally slowed and looked at the doctor. "Is Ro…?"
"Alive, and making a full recovery thanks to the medical leave I have her on. Like the one I'm going to demand you take if you don't let me finish examining you."
"You wouldn't dare," she threatened before continuing the march to her office.
Chiarta caught up to them, carrying his vam box like a baby in his arms. "If it makes you feel any better, Doctor, I think she's completely healed."
"Thank you for your opinion," Bashir said, huffing slightly from his effort to keep up with Kira, "but I would still rather not have her running through the Promenade minutes after waking up."
Everyone in Ops stopped what they were doing and stared as Kira rushed through with Bashir and the alien at her heals. When they entered the captain's office, Vaughn and Sisko were deeply engrossed in a subspace conversation with Admiral Ross. Vaughn was the first to notice her.
"Captain Kira," he said, surprised. "I'm…happy to see you up." Decades of strict Starfleet discipline couldn't keep his eyes from wandering across her hospital gown to her bare feet.
"Kira?" Sisko said questioningly, not even trying to hide his amusement at her attire.
"Emissary," she breathed. "There's something I need to tell you. Something that involves the security of the Federation." Bashir continued taking her bioreadings as she spoke.
"Your vision from the Prophets?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Great. Now you're getting them, too?" Admiral Ross sighed.
"There's going to be an invasion. A lifeform—it's called nairait—it infects other organisms like a virus, but it's intelligent."
Ross and Vaughn exchanged a shocked look. A second of silence ensued. "We were just discussing a possible infection…something we haven't been able to isolate," Ross explained.
"You won't be able to isolate it. Not under normal conditions, anyway," Kira said. "It has the ability to move freely through its host and evade scans. And it vacates dead bodies."
"That explains why we didn't find anything in the corpses on that Romulan warbird," Ross said thoughtfully.
Kira got a frightened look in her eyes. "What Romulan warbird?"
"It was found drifting in Federation space," Sisko told her. "The environmental systems had failed, but it wasn't clear if the crew died before or after that happened."
Kira looked at Ross with wide eyes. "Sir, it's imperative that the environmental systems not be restored to that ship. Nairait can survive indefinitely in a vacuum, but it can't generate its own heat. Until those systems are restored, it will be innocuous."
Ross frowned. "The ship that found it already restored environmental systems and sent an away team to investigate. Days ago."
"Then they're already infected," Kira said solemnly.
"It's worse." Ross took a deep breath. "There have been other cases like this all over the Klingon and Romulan empires. This is just the first known instance of it reaching the Federation."
"Admiral, I strongly recommend everyone on the ship that found the warbird be placed in quarantine. Not on their own ship, though. Somewhere that doesn't have access to weapons."
"I'll see what I can do, but they've already visited a space station and two planets since it happened. If they were infected, it may already have spread." He leaned forward and locked eyes with Kira. "Did your Prophets tell you anything else about this infection? Like how to cure it, maybe?"
"It's vulnerable to cold," she said distractedly. "Anyone who's suspected of being infected should be put immediately in stasis."
"Thank you, Captian," Ross said, looking deeply concerned. "Ross out."
In the suddenly silent room, everyone stared at Kira.
"Well," Bashir said to break the silence, "other than signs of fatigue, I don't see anything physically wrong with you. I suppose I can allow you to return to your duties…though I'm not sure this quite meets the Starfleet dress code."
Kira rewarded Bashir's attempt at humor with a hollow smile. "Doctor, I want you to implement more thorough biofilter scans on all incoming ships until further notice."
"What am I looking for?" he asked.
"I don't know. Anything anomalous. Vaughn," she turned to her first officer, "find a way to place the entire station in stasis in case the nairait reaches us."
"I'm not sure that's possible."
"Find a way."
He nodded and exited to Ops.
Kira turned to Chiarta. "Whoever you are…thank you."
"Does that mean I can go now?" he asked, clearly a little frightened by the talk of infection.
"Yes. Convey my gratitude to Odo, if you wouldn't mind. Tell Commander Vaughn to clear you for departure."
Chiarta hurried away.
Kira and Sisko were left alone in the office. "You knew something like this was coming, didn't you?" Kira asked without turning around.
"I had some idea."
"Did the Prophets tell you we can't defeat it on our own?"
Sisko looked at her questioningly. "No, they didn't. But I did know it would be unlike anything we've ever faced before."
"That's not entirely true." She turned around. "Something like this—a different strain of nairait—threatened to infect the population of Earth centuries ago. It was stopped. A group of explorers found a way to destroy it."
"Do you know how they did it?" Sisko asked.
"No. But I do know how to contact them." She went to the computer and typed in the symbols she'd seen in her vision: a set of stellar coordinates. "This is where they came from, and where they returned to when they left."
"That's deep within the Beta Quadrant!" Sisko exclaimed. "It would take years to get here at maximum warp."
"Nevertheless, this is where we need to go for answers. Computer, how long would it take a subspace message to reach these coordinates?"
"Five months and eleven days," the computer responded.
"Let's hope that gives us enough time," she said. "I'm sending a distress signal to that system, including a request for information on the nairait."
"I'm not sure the situation quite qualifies as distress," Sisko opined.
Kira finished sending the message. "By the time their reply gets here, it will."